Footwear, including shoes and boots, are an important article of apparel. They protect the foot and provide necessary support, while the wearer stands, walks, or runs. They also can provide an aesthetic component to the wearer's personality.
A shoe or boot comprises a sole constituting an outsole and heel, which contact the ground. Attached to the shoe that does not constitute a sandal or flip flop is an upper that acts to surround the foot, often in conjunction with a tongue. Finally, a closure mechanism draws the medial and lateral portions of the upper snugly around the tongue and wearer's foot to secure the shoe to the foot.
The most common form of a closure mechanism is a lace criss-crossing between the medial and lateral portions of the upper that is pulled tight around the instep of the foot, and tied in a knot by the wearer. While simple and practical in functionality, such shoe laces need to be tied and retied through the day as the knot naturally loosens around the wearer's foot. This can be a hassle for the ordinary wearer. Moreover, young children may not know how to tie a knot in the shoe lace, thereby requiring assistance from an attentive parent or caregiver. Furthermore, elderly people suffering from arthritis may find it painful or unduly challenging to pull shoe laces tight and tie knots in order to secure shoes to their feet.
The footwear industry has therefore produced shoes for children and adults containing Velcro straps in lieu of shoelaces. Such straps extending from the medial upper are readily fastened to a complementary Velcro patch secured to the lateral upper. But, such Velcro closures can frequently become disconnected when too much stress is applied by the foot. This particularly occurs for athletic shoes and hiking boots. Moreover, Velcro closures can become worn relatively quickly, losing their capacity to close securely. Furthermore, many wearers find Velcro straps to be aesthetically ugly on footwear.
Efforts have been made therefore within the footwear industry to provide alternative designs that overcome problems associated with loosened shoe laces. U.S. Pat. No. 7,159,340 issued to Borsoi discloses a series of strategically located keepers along the medial and lateral uppers for interacting with the tied shoe lace to force the foot towards the heel of the boot or shoe. U.S. Pat. No. 6,671,980 issued to Liu teaches an anchor assembly secured to the shoe upper and shoe laces that increases the tension of the tied shoe laces, but may be easily pivoted to a released position when the wearer wants to remove the shoe. A shoe lace is still required for this anchor assembly.
Other shoe designs dispense with shoe laces entirely. U.S. Pat. No. 6,883,255 issued to Morrow et al., for example, illustrates the type of buckles that are popular on ski or snowboard boots. U.S. Pat. No. 7,065,906 issued to Jones et al. discloses a shoe featuring a special closure panel that is drawn around the medial and lateral uppers and wearer's instep by cables concealed within the shoe upper or sole. The cables are tightened by a pivoting lever mechanism concealed within the heel of the shoe that may be adjusted by means of a screw or other mechanism. Meanwhile, U.S. Pat. No. 6,643,954 issued to Voswinkel discloses a tensioning lever contained within the interior of the shoe that is engaged by the foot to interact via a spring with a tightening mechanism secured within the shoe's heel for drawing a strap around the medial and lateral upper of the shoe.
However, none of the automated tightening systems heretofore devised has been entirely successful or satisfactory. Major shortcomings of the automated tightening systems of the prior art are that they fail to tighten the shoe from both sides so that it conforms snugly to the wearer's foot, and that they lack any provision for quickly loosening the shoe when it is desired to remove the shoe from the wearer's foot. Moreover, they frequently suffer from: (1) complexity, in that they involve numerous parts; (2) the inclusion of expensive parts, such as small electric motors; (3) the use of parts needing periodic replacement, e.g. a battery; and (4) the presence of parts requiring frequent maintenance. These aspects, as well as others not specifically mentioned, indicate that considerable improvement is needed in order to attain an automated tightening shoe that is completely successful and satisfactory.